Saturday 14 November 2026
Highlights: Saying goodbye to train life, exploring East Perth coastline
Today was our last day on the Indian Pacific train after our 4,352 kilometres
4-night and 3-day journey. Today I spent more time watching the landscape from our cabin window. Semi-desert for most of today, even as the vegetation and greenery grew on our approach to Perth, the dryness remained.
We had one last main meal on the train, which started around 8 am local time (so 11 am Melbourne time back home), titled brunch, a mixture of breakfast and lunch options.
The main course options were: 1) Breakfast BLT with Hollandaise, 2) Haloumi Stack, 3) Sweet Corn Galettes, 4) Chicken Caesar Salad, 5) Toasted Brie, and 6) Paesano Artisan Toast. The dessert options were: 1) Citron & Coconut Gateau, and 2) Cherry and Almond Crumble. I went with the Breakfast BLT (grilled bacon, lettuce, bush tomatoes on toasted sourdough topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce) and Cherry & Almond Crumble (vanilla Anglaise, confit Riberries and honey tuile)—an enjoyable meal.
During meals, you are seated at random with other passengers, which means you end up talking with a range of people from different areas of Australia and around the world. We had conversations with people from the USA, Germany, Britain, New Zealand, and Australia: Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia. Some from inner cities, others from the regions, and even from very remote areas. It is a geographic cross-section of people, but mostly older people (I’d guess an average age of 60+) and people with the economic means to book such an expensive experience.
Today for brunch, we were seated with only one person (it’s normally two), a retiree who wasn’t enjoying retirement and would still like to be working. An important insight is to prepare for retirement to cover not just financial matters (which are essential) but also for the life you want to enjoy.
We went back to our cabin to enjoy the sights as we moved closer to Perth. Later, we returned to the Outback Explorer Lounge.
I was hoping to try the alcoholic ginger beer that had been a favourite of Darby’s during this journey, but they ran out! So instead of enjoying Coke Zero and listening to the live musical entertainment, many of the guests were singing along as well.
We pulled up to the station around 2.30 pm but had to remain in our cabins for 15-20 minutes as they removed stored baggage and other items from the train. Once off the train, Darby quickly found her stored bag, but it took us a while to find our pickup spot for the hotel transfer; a helpful staff member figured out we were in the wrong location.
After checking into our home for the next 6 nights, we headed out for an orientation walk to get our bearings, focusing on finding the pickup points for our day tours over the next few days. We spent some time walking along the East Perth coastline, and I really enjoyed discussing the Hunger Games books with Darby, who had some great insights and a passion for the series.
It looks like the weather is going to be fine for our stay in Perth, and our rooms are large and comfortable, so I’m looking forward to this next phase of the trip.
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